The Taming of the Shrew 1.1 - Bianca cannot wed until Katharina does [Enter LUCENTIO and his man TRANIO] LUCENTIO Tranio, since for the great desire I had To see fair Padua, nursery of arts, I am arrived for fruitful Lombardy, The pleasant garden of great Italy; And by my father's love and leave am arm'd 5 With his good will and thy good company, My trusty servant, well approved in all, Here let us breathe and haply institute A course of learning and ingenious studies. Pisa renown'd for grave citizens 10 Gave me my being and my father first, A merchant of great traffic through the world, Vincetino come of Bentivolii. Vincetino's son brought up in Florence It shall become to serve all hopes conceived, 15 To deck his fortune with his virtuous deeds: And therefore, Tranio, for the time I study, Virtue and that part of philosophy Will I apply that treats of happiness By virtue specially to be achieved.

20 Tell me thy mind; for I have Pisa left And am to Padua come, as he that leaves A shallow plash to plunge him in the deep And with satiety seeks to quench his thirst. TRANIO Mi perdonato, gentle master mine, 25 I am in all affected as yourself; Glad that you thus continue your resolve To suck the sweets of sweet philosophy. Only, good master, while we do admire This virtue and this moral discipline, 30 Let's be no stoics nor no stocks, I pray; Or so devote to Aristotle's cheques As Ovid be an outcast quite abjured: Balk logic with acquaintance that you have And practise rhetoric in your common talk; 35 Music and poesy use to quicken you; The mathematics and the metaphysics, Fall to them as you find your stomach serves you; No profit grows where is no pleasure ta'en: In brief, sir, study what you most affect. 40 Gramercies, Tranio, well dost thou advise. If, Biondello, thou wert come ashore, We could at once put us in readiness, And take a lodging fit to entertain Such friends as time in Padua shall beget.

45 But stay a while: what company is this? TRANIO Master, some show to welcome us to town. [ Enter BAPTISTA, KATHARINA, BIANCA, GREMIO, and HORTENSIO. LUCENTIO and TRANIO stand by ] BAPTISTA Gentlemen, importune me no farther, For how I firmly am resolved you know; That is, not bestow my youngest daughter 50 Before I have a husband for the elder: If either of you both love Katharina, Because I know you well and love you well, Leave shall you have to court her at your pleasure. GREMIO [Aside] To cart her rather: she's too rough for me. 55 There, There, Hortensio, will you any wife? KATHARINA I pray you, sir, is it your will To make a stale of me amongst these mates? HORTENSIO Mates, maid! how mean you that? no mates for you, Unless you were of gentler, milder mould.

60 I'faith, sir, you shall never need to fear: I wis it is not half way to her heart; But if it were, doubt not her care should be To comb your noddle with a three-legg'd stool And paint your face and use you like a fool. 65 From all such devils, good Lord deliver us! GREMIO And me too, good Lord! TRANIO Hush, master! here's some good pastime toward: That wench is stark mad or wonderful froward. LUCENTIO But in the other's silence do I see 70 Maid's mild behavior and sobriety. Peace, Tranio! Well said, master; mum! and gaze your fill. BAPTISTA Gentlemen, that I may soon make good What I have said, Bianca, get you in: 75 And let it not displease thee, good Bianca, For I will love thee ne'er the less, my girl. KATHARINA A pretty peat! it is best Put finger in the eye, an she knew why. BIANCA Sister, content you in my discontent.

80 Sir, to your pleasure humbly I subscribe: My books and instruments shall be my company, On them to took and practise by myself. LUCENTIO Hark, Tranio! thou may'st hear Minerva speak. HORTENSIO Signior Baptista, will you be so strange? 85 Sorry am I that our good will effects Bianca's grief. Why will you mew her up, Signior Baptista, for this fiend of hell, And make her bear the penance of her tongue? 90 Gentlemen, content ye; I am resolved: Go in, Bianca: And for I know she taketh most delight In music, instruments and poetry, Schoolmasters will I keep within my house, 95 Fit to instruct her youth. If you, Hortensio, Or Signior Gremio, you, know any such, Prefer them hither; for to cunning men I will be very kind, and liberal To mine own children in good bringing up: 100 And so farewell. Katharina, you may stay; For I have more to commune with Bianca. [Exit] Why, and I trust I may go too, may I not?

What, shall I be appointed hours; as though, belike, I knew not what to take and what to leave, ha? 105 You may go to the devil's dam: your gifts are so good, here's none will hold you. Their love is not so great, Hortensio, but we may blow our nails together, and fast it fairly out: our cakes dough on both sides. Farewell: yet for the love I bear my 110 sweet Bianca, if I can by any means light on a fit man to teach her that wherein she delights, I will wish him to her father. HORTENSIO So will I, Signior Gremio: but a word, I pray. Though the nature of our quarrel yet never brooked 115 parle, know now, upon advice, it toucheth us both, that we may yet again have access to our fair mistress and be happy rivals in Bianco's love, to labour and effect one thing specially. GREMIO I say, a devil. Thinkest thou, Hortensio, though her father be very rich, any man is so very a fool 125 to be married to hell?

HORTENSIO Tush, Gremio, though it pass your patience and mine to endure her loud alarums, why, man, there be good fellows in the world, an a man could light on them, would take her with all faults, and money enough. 130 I cannot tell; but I had as lief take her dowry with this condition, to be whipped at the high cross every morning. Faith, as you say, there's small choice in rotten apples. But come; since this bar in law makes us 135 friends, it shall be so far forth friendly maintained all by helping Baptista's eldest daughter to a husband we set his youngest free for a husband, and then have to't a fresh. Sweet Bianca! Happy man be his dole! He that runs fastest gets the ring. 140 How say you, Signior Gremio? GREMIO I am agreed; and would I had given him the best horse in Padua to begin his wooing that would thoroughly woo her, wed her and bed her and rid the house of her! Come on. 145 I pray, sir, tell me, is it possible That love should of a sudden take such hold?

LUCENTIO O Tranio, till I found it to be true, I never thought it possible or likely; But see, while idly I stood looking on, 150 I found the effect of love in idleness: And now in plainness do confess to thee, That art to me as secret and as dear As Anna to the queen of Carthage was, Tranio, I burn, I pine, I perish, Tranio, 155 If I achieve not this young modest girl. Counsel me, Tranio, for I know thou canst; Assist me, Tranio, for I know thou wilt. TRANIO Master, it is no time to chide you now; Affection is not rated from the heart: 160 If love have touch'd you, nought remains but so, 'Redime te captum quam queas minimo.' LUCENTIO Gramercies, lad, go forward; this contents: The rest will comfort, for thy counsel's sound. TRANIO Master, you look'd so longly on the maid, 165 Perhaps you mark'd not what's the pith of all.

LUCENTIO O yes, I saw sweet beauty in her face, Such as the daughter of Agenor had, That made great Jove to humble him to her hand. When with his knees he kiss'd the Cretan strand. 170 Saw you no more? mark'd you not how her sister Began to scold and raise up such a storm That mortal ears might hardly endure the din? LUCENTIO Tranio, I saw her coral lips to move And with her breath she did perfume the air: 175 Sacred and sweet was all I saw in her. TRANIO Nay, then, 'tis time to stir him from his trance. I pray, awake, sir: if you love the maid, Bend thoughts and wits to achieve her. Thus it stands: Her eldest sister is so curst and shrewd 180 That till the father rid his hands of her, Master, your love must live a maid at home; And therefore has he closely mew'd her up, Because she will not be annoy'd with suitors. LUCENTIO Ah, Tranio, what a cruel father's he!

185 But art thou not advised, he took some care To get her cunning schoolmasters to instruct her? TRANIO Ay, marry, am I, sir; and now 'tis plotted. LUCENTIO It is: may it be done? TRANIO Not possible; for who shall bear your part, And be in Padua here Vincentio's son, Keep house and ply his book, welcome his friends, Visit his countrymen and banquet them? 200 Basta; content thee, for I have it full. We have not yet been seen in any house, Nor can we lie distinguish'd by our faces For man or master; then it follows thus; Thou shalt be master, Tranio, in my stead, 205 Keep house and port and servants as I should: I will some other be, some Florentine, Some Neapolitan, or meaner man of Pisa. 'Tis hatch'd and shall be so: Tranio, at once Uncase thee; take my colour'd hat and cloak: 210 When Biondello comes, he waits on thee; But I will charm him first to keep his tongue.

TRANIO In brief, sir, sith it your pleasure is, And I am tied to be obedient; 215 For so your father charged me at our parting, 'Be serviceable to my son,' quoth he, Although I think 'twas in another sense; I am content to be Lucentio, Because so well I love Lucentio. 220 Tranio, be so, because Lucentio loves: And let me be a slave, to achieve that maid Whose sudden sight hath thrall'd my wounded eye. Here comes the rogue. Sirrah, where have you been? 225 Where have I been! Nay, how now! where are you? Master, has my fellow Tranio stolen your clothes? Or you stolen his? or both? pray, what's the news? LUCENTIO Sirrah, come hither: 'tis no time to jest, And therefore frame your manners to the time.

230 Your fellow Tranio here, to save my life, Puts my apparel and my countenance on, And I for my escape have put on his; For in a quarrel since I came ashore I kill'd a man and fear I was descried: 235 Wait you on him, I charge you, as becomes, While I make way from hence to save my life: You understand me? I, sir! ne'er a whit. LUCENTIO And not a jot of Tranio in your mouth: 240 Tranio is changed into Lucentio. BIONDELLO The better for him: would I were so too! TRANIO So could I, faith, boy, to have the next wish after, That Lucentio indeed had Baptista's youngest daughter. But, sirrah, not for my sake, but your master's, I advise 245 You use your manners discreetly in all kind of companies: When I am alone, why, then I am Tranio; But in all places else your master Lucentio.

LUCENTIO Tranio, let's go: one thing more rests, that thyself execute, to make one among these wooers: if 250 thou ask me why, sufficeth, my reasons are both good and weighty. Shakespeareances.com: Shakespeare's Missing Mothers Shakespeare’s Ode to Mothers Is Sometimes in their Absence Synetic Theater’s Taming of the Shrew opened with a graveside funeral, the mourners in raincoats and holding umbrellas, their backs to us. One by one they paid their respects to the man and two women in the middle. These turned out to be Baptista and his two daughters, Bianca and Katherina, and it is his wife, their mother, they are burying. The elder daughter, Kate, appeared to take the loss of her mother particularly hard, and director Paata Tsikurishvilli intimates this fed her shrewish behavior. Set aside this conceptual interpretation for a moment and consider this fact: In the 11 times I’ve seen Shrew on stage, the three film versions I’ve seen, and the countless times I’ve read the play, this was the first time the thought crossed my mind, where is mom?

(Ironically, mom showed up in the play this week after I wrote the first draft to this essay, as the current Folger production turns Baptista into a woman.) I recalled studying King Lear in college and the professor asking, “Where is the mother, where is Lear’s wife?” and then suggesting, “The poor woman was probably driven to her grave by her husband and daughters.” In fact, many of Shakespeare’s plays have notable mothers missing—and one silent mother intriguingly present. Some plays do have mothers in key roles, even iconic ones. But when I started mulling over the state of motherhood in the full scope of his works, I realized that the absence of mothers could almost be connected into a thematic thread across the canon. I promise not to get Freudian here. First, doing so assumes Shakespeare’s plays are somehow biographical, and as I’ve discussed often on this website, such an assumption would be carelessness. Second, Freud himself placed Shakespeare on his couch and concluded that the man was not in fact Shakespeare but likely the Earl of Oxford, one of many reasons I’d gladly replace the “e” in the psychiatrist’s name with “a” when discussing his theories.

If anything, Shakespeare is tapping into a greater psyche than his own, a cultural one that concerns not just the impact of motherhood, but parenthood. Consider these plays, in addition to The Taming of the Shrew and King Lear, featuring filial relationships at the center of the plot in which the mother is notably absent. In The Tempest, mom must have died when Miranda was an infant, and Prospero doesn’t place her in his history; his only reference is assuring that Miranda is his daughter because “Thy mother was a piece of virtue, and she said thou was my daughter.” In The Merchant of Venice, the apparently orphaned Portia talks only of her father, and Jessica’s mother is absent, too, though Shylock makes an obtuse mention of a wife when he says of a turquoise ring, “I had it of Leah when I was a bachelor.” As You Like It has five, count ’em, five offspring (Rosalind, Celia, and the three de Boys brothers), all with fathers playing key roles either in the play or before the play, but not a single mother. The Two Gentlemen of Verona has two fathers, one for Proteus, one for Sylvia, and no mothers.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream has Egeus, father to Hermia, but no mother to Hermia. Desdemona has upset her father by eloping with Othello, but no mother is around to weigh in on her actions. Titus Andronicus had 25 sons and a daughter; they had no mothers that anyone speaks of. The Henry IV plays center on father-son relationships with no mothers factoring in. Historically, Prince Hal’s mother died when he was only 8 years old, so her absence in Henry IV has that excuse; yet, the plays leave out Henry IV’s second wife, Hal’s stepmother, too. Besides, Shakespeare so often blurred historical lines in his portrayals that he could have portrayed Joan of Navarre as Hal’s real mother if he wanted to, just as he made the Duchess of York Aumerle’s mother in Richard II rather than the stepmother she really was. Then there is Much Ado About Nothing. Leonato’s wife, and presumably Hero’s mother, Innogen, appears in the first scene. She says nothing and never appears again.

The prevailing theory is that Shakespeare planned to use her but dropped her as he wrote the play and forgot to scratch out her name in the opening stage direction. Shakespeare was careless at times, but that theory assumes that his original text was used for the Folio instead of a playhouse version. This appearance and sudden disappearance of a mother in Much Ado might be more insightful than mere carelessness. Consider who Innogen is married to: Leonato, a graceful, fun-loving man who only goes uncontrollably berserk when his daughter is publically shamed at her wedding (but he soon resumes his even-keel demeanor). Now, look at the husbands in the list of plays that I mention above, starting with Shrew: Favor-playing Baptista The super-egotistical Lear The self-absorbed Prospero Portia’s father who after his own death forces on his daughter a husband who happens to choose the right chest The obstinate Shylock The mean Duke Frederick and the pushover Duke Senior The Duke of Milan who is impressed by Thurio (really?) and locks his daughter up in a tower The pathological Egeus Titus (no modifier necessary) Über politician Henry IV. I’m sure any woman reading this has already done the math.

What wife would stick around these guys? Sure, I may be overthinking this. After all, how different am I from the snob in front of me at a production of King Lear who, during the intermission, pontificated on why Cordelia didn’t just play along with her father’s “who loves me most” game, to which I felt like leaning in and saying, “If she did that, we’d have no play.” Shakespeare had no mothers in these plays because he didn’t need them. Simple answer. Or, just as likely, because he wrote plays with his company in mind, he chose not to occupy one of his actors with a mother’s role. Nevertheless, those would have been plot decisions rather than available-talent decisions.

For every notably absent mother in his plays, Shakespeare created a famous mother in other plays: Margaret in Henry VI, Tamora in Titus Andronicus, Hermione in A Winter’s Tale, Ladies Capulet and Montague in Romeo and Juliet, Gertrude in Hamlet (though Laertes’ and Ophelia’s mother is missing), Mistress Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Emelia in The Comedy of Errors, two Duchesses of York (in the two Richards), Elizabeth in Richard III, Constance in King John, the Countess in All’s Well that Ends Well, and Virgilia and the mother of all mothers, Volumnia, in Coriolanus. Even Cleopatra is a mother (though her children remain off stage). The example of All’s Well that Ends Well might be most telling, for, while it does have a mother in the Countess and one for Diana, another mother is missing, Helen’s. Her father had recently died, but no mention is made of her mother. Meanwhile, her love interest, Bertram, has his mother, the Countess, but his father also has died before the play’s start.

So, off he goes to the King of France’s court and then he goes off the rails when that king commands him to marry Helen after she’s cured the king of a deadly disease (hmmm, no queen in those scenes). Then she goes off after Bertram even after he publically despises her. You could argue that missing one or the other parent somehow messes up the constitution in these characters, and the same happens with other similarly situated characters across the canon. Interestingly, while the plays lacking a mother have a strong father, many of those with a strong mother either lack a father or that father is Henry VI (which is pretty much the same thing as lacking a father) or a ghost that may or may not be the devil. Traditional two-parent families appear in The Merry Wives and Romeo and Juliet, and however dysfunctional you may consider the Capulets, that play’s tragic plot comes about because the children make choices counter to their parents’ wishes. Traditional family units also appear in Comedy of Errors, Pericles, and The Winter’s Tale, and all of those have plots driven by the temporary loss of one or both parents.

The gals can claim that Baptista, Lear, et al., got in their fixes for the lack of a mother’s influence. The guys can claim that Coriolanus, Hamlet, et al., got in their fixes because they were mama’s boys. Both arguments win. In Shakespeare’s world, strong family units equated with equilibrium in the social order. How interesting that the loss of that particular equilibrium is at least a backdrop for so many of his plays. Eric Minton The Taming of the Shrew Literature Guide - TeacherVision Enter promo code TEACH for 15% off. INTRODUCTION While The Taming of the Shrew is not one of the Shakespearean plays traditionally taught in English courses, the lively comic plot and appealing characters make it an excellent introduction to the Bard. Because the play deals with relationships between several different "courting" couples, it can capture the attention of adolescents and spark lively debate on the age-old "battle of the sexes." Less able readers can enjoy the action and intrigue of the story. They will also be able to appreciate the theme of the play: the problems that arise when people are expected to conform to the roles society expects them to play.

More able readers will understand the contradictions between plot and subplot and the role of deception. All students will be able to compare the play to modern versions of the story, while more able students can look for parallels in literature. Study of The Taming of the Shrew offers students the opportunity to compare social customs surrounding courtship and marriage from Elizabethan England to those of other countries and to modern America. The play can promote important discussions about the role of respect, deception, romance, caring, and violence in the relationships between men and women. This teacher's guide is divided into several parts: (1) a brief literary overview, including a synopsis and commentary on the play; (2) suggestions for teaching the play, including activities, discussion questions, and writing topics to be used before, during, and after reading the play; (3) ideas to extend students' learning beyond the play, including ways to address its themes, ideas for teaching literary analysis, techniques for using the play as a bridge to other works, and ways to use the play in interdisciplinary study; (4) bibliographies, including additional pedagogical sources, other works of literature addressing similar themes, and interdisciplinary sources.

Throughout this study guide, attention will be given to the ability level of the students, and specific activities, discussion questions, and topics will be labeled as to difficulty. +Most appropriate for nonacademic students. #Most appropriate for above average students. ~Most appropriate for academic students. OVERVIEW The scene opens in an English country alehouse in the late 1500s. A nobleman discovers Christopher Sly, a drunken beggar, and decides to play a trick on him. He orders his men to take the passed out Sly to his own bedroom, dress the beggar in fine clothes, and tell him he is a nobleman who has been very ill for many years (Ind, i.) [pp. 45-50]. When Sly awakes, he proudly protests that he is no lord. Gradually, however, Sly comes to believe in his nobility and begins taking on lordly airs. He agrees to watch the performance of a wandering band of actors who have also been enlisted in the lord's plot (Ind, ii.) [pp. 50-56]. The action of The Taming of the Shrew, the play-within-a-play, begins in the Italian city of Padua.

Lucentio, a young gentleman of Verona, arrives accompanied by his servant Tranio. Lucentio's discussion of his studies is interrupted by the appearance of Baptista Minola, his two daughters Katherina (Kate) and Bianca, and two would-be suitors for Bianca's hand-Gremio, an old man, and Hortensio, a gentleman of fashion. Baptista states that no one will be permitted to court Bianca until her older sister, Kate, has a husband. Gremio and Hortensio protest that no one wants to marry the bad-tempered Kate. Baptista intends to keep Bianca in seclusion and asks for tutors while she waits. While listening to this conversation, Lucentio has become totally smitten with Bianca. He plans to get to know Bianca by posing as a tutor while Tranio pretends to be Lucentio and joins the ranks of Bianca's "official" suitors (I, i.) [pp. 57-66]. Another young gentleman of Verona, the bold Petruchio, arrives at the home of his friend Hortensio proclaiming he has come to Padua to find a wealthy wife.

Hortensio replies he knows a lady, Katherina Minola, who is both rich and beautiful, but unfortunately she is a terrible shrew. Petruchio does not care just as long as she is rich. Hortensio agrees to introduce Petruchio to Kate's father if Petruchio will help him gain access to the younger sister. The old suitor Gremio has found Cambio, a Latin tutor for Bianca. Cambio is really Lucentio. The ranks of the suitors for Bianca increase when Tranio makes his grand entrance posing as Lucentio. All three-Hortensio, Gremio, Tranio/Lucentio-agree to finance Petruchio's courtship of Kate since his success will open the way for them (I, ii.) [pp. 66-77]. Baptista must intervene in a fight between Kate and Bianca. When he chides Kate for her actions, she claims her father likes her younger sister best. Petruchio arrives, accompanied by various suitors and tutors. He immediately inquires about the hand of Baptista's daughter Kate, assuring Baptista he is from a good family.

Petruchio presents Hortensio, now posing as the music tutor Litio. Not to be outdone, Gremio introduces the Latin tutor, Lucentio/Cambio. Baptista welcomes the tutors and sends them to meet their pupils while Tranio/Lucentio officially becomes a candidate for Bianca's hand. Baptista decides Petruchio's offer of marriage is a good one, but he must win Kate's love first. Petruchio is confident he can do so. Petruchio's first encounter with Kate generates sparks as the two engage in rough-and-tumble verbal sparring. Petruchio announces that he is the perfect husband for Kate and tells Baptista and the others not to take note of her behavior; they have agreed she will still pretend to be shrewish in public even though she really loves him madly. Sunday is set for the wedding day. Since Kate now seems to be spoken for, Gremio and Tranio/Lucentio face off to negotiate for Bianca's hand.

Baptista is impressed by Tranio/Lucentio's promises of enormous riches, but, to be on the safe side, he wants Tranio/Lucentio's father, Vincentio, to make good his son's offer. Tranio realizes the "supposed Lucentio" must now get busy and find a "supposed Vincentio" to pose as his father (II, i) [pp. 78-93]. In the garden of Baptista's home, the disguised suitors begin their covert courtship of Bianca. Lucentio/Cambio, between the lines of a Latin lesson, tells Bianca who he really is. Bianca is cautious, but does not discourage Lucentio's attentions. Their actions raise the suspicions of Hortensio/Litio (III, i.) [pp. 94-97]. Everyone but the groom gathers for the much anticipated wedding of Petruchio and Kate. Kate is humiliated to think she has been left standing at the altar. When Petruchio arrives both his dress and his behavior are outrageous. Baptista protests, and Petruchio replies that Kate is marrying him, not his clothes, and he drags her off to the church.

Tranio meanwhile brings Lucentio up to date on his plan to find someone to pretend to be Vincentio. When the wedding party returns, Petruchio announces they have to leave right away and will not be staying for the wedding feast. Although everyone objects to his plan, Petruchio says he will be master of what is his, especially of his wife. He sweeps her up and carries her away from her father's house (III, i i.) [pp. 98-107]. The journey to Petruchio's home is not a pleasant one. Petruchio and Kate arrive cold, dirty, tired, and hungry. Petruchio, furthermore, is in a rage and declares the supper to be unfit. He decides he and Kate will fast, and he packs her off to bed. Petruchio announces his plan to tame Kate as he would a falcon, starving her into submission. But every time he denies her sleep or sends back her food, he will claim it to be done in loving care of her. Thus will he "kill a wife with kindness" (IV, i.) [pp. 108-116].

Hortensio/Litio and Tranio/Lucentio give up their quest for Bianca's hand when they discover her kissing Lucentio/Cambio, a common tutor. Hortensio decides instead to marry a wealthy widow. With one suitor now out of the way, Tranio finds an old man to pretend to be Vincentio and thus secure his "suit" (IV, ii.) [Pp. 116-120]. Kate, meanwhile, is showing signs of wear from Petruchio's "kindnesses." Petruchio surprises her by announcing they will go back to Padua for her sister's wedding. Kate's hopes for new clothes for the occasion are dashed because she has not mastered her temper. Petruchio decides they will go back to her father's dressed as they are. After all, clothes will not change who they are inside (IV, iii.) [Pp. 121-128]. The seesaw action returns to Padua where Lucentio and Bianca have run away to get married (IV, iv) [pp. 129-133].

Meanwhile on the road back to Padua, Petruchio is about to win the battle he has been waging with Kate. He declares the moon is shining brightly. When Kate disagrees with him, he announces they will return home. At last Kate sees the point and says it is the moon or the sun, or whatever he wants it to be. They are joined by an elderly man, the real Vincentio, on his way to Padua to check up on his son Lucentio (IV, v) [pp. 133-136]. While Lucentio and Bianca go to the church, the real Vincentio arrives at his lodgings. The poor man does not know what is going on because Lucentio's servants swear they have never seen him before. Vincentio is rescued by the real Lucentio who shocks everyone with the news he and Bianca are married. Everyone, but Petruchio and Kate, heads to Baptista's house to sort matters out. Petruchio demands a kiss from Kate. Kate balks at first, but at last grants his request. The battles appear to be over (V, i) [pp. 137-143].

The mood is festive at the wedding feast for the three newly married couples, but everyone agrees Petruchio has the worst of the wives. Petruchio suggests the three men wager to see whose wife is the most obedient. Bianca and the Widow refuse to come when summoned by their husbands. Kate, on the other hand, not only comes when summoned, but also lectures the other wives on the kind of duty each owes her husband-to make him a happy home while he works to take care of them both. The assembled crowd is amazed at Kate's transformation. Petruchio and Kate have won both the bet and the battle the other two couples are just now beginning. Or have they? (V, ii) [pp. 143-151]. Commentary The play contains three stories of deception. In the Induction, the drunkard Sly is tricked into believing he is a nobleman because he is dressed and treated as one. Later, in the play-within-a-play, Petruchio pretends to be a male counterpart to the shrew, beating and berating his servants and yet treating Kate with exaggerated kindness.

His object is to give her a taste of her own medicine, while at the same time allowing her to take on the role of a gentlewoman. Deception and disguise are integral parts of the Lucentio-Bianca plot where four characters assume someone else's identity in order to gain access to Bianca. Bianca also pretends to be sweet and submissive, but in reality she shows signs of being self-centered and willful. While students may find the Lucentio-Bianca plot difficult to follow, they should see how the outcomes of the stories differ. Which man, Lucentio or Petruchio, will have the more suitable wife? Modern audiences can laugh at the actions of Kate, especially when she is getting the better of the foppish suitors; however, her behavior toward her sister, Petruchio's treatment of her, and her last speech, pose problems. Students should understand that the play mirrors societal attitudes of Shakespeare's time. The shrew was a standard character in comedy. Noah's wife, for example, was often portrayed as shrewish in the cycle plays popular just before Shakespeare's time. A later example of the shrew is the character of Joe's wife in Dickens' novel Great Expectations.

The shrew was a woman who was out of control, unreasonably angry, and sometimes cruel. In the comic convention, she usually got what she deserved. Shakespeare treats his shrew with a little more dignity. Kate is, after all, the title character of his play. Petruchio sets out to tame her much as the sportsman of his day tamed his falcon or the cowboy of this time breaks in a horse. Kate learns not only to play Petruchio's game but also to enjoy it. In the final analysis, it is left to the audience to interpret Kate's last speech: Has she truly been tamed or is she just playing the game? Prev The Taming of the Shrew Summary - eNotes.com The Taming of the Shrew Summary William Shakespeare The Taming of the Shrew Summary In The Taming of the Shew, the confident Petruchio tries to tame Katharina, the supposed shrew. After being deprived of food and sleep, Katharina is finally "tamed" and bends to Petruchio's will.

The Taming of the Shrew summary key points: Lucentio and his servant Tranio travel to Padua where they encounter Baptista and his daughters, Katharina and Bianca. Bianca has many suitors but Baptista insists on first marrying off the aggressively assertive Katharina. Lucentio falls in love with Bianca and trades clothes with his servant so that he can woo Bianca under the guise of a tutor. Petruchio decides he wishes to marry the wealthy Katharina and help his friend Hortensio, who wishes to marry Bianca. Hortensio disguises himself as a tutor to woo Bianca. Petruchio marries Katharina and bends her to his will by a scheme that deprives her of food and sleep. Lucentio woos Bianca and the two marry secretly. Hortensio marries a rich widow. In a contest to determine the most obedient wife, Katharina wins. She has been tamed by Petruchio. Download Study Guide Start Free Trial Start your free trial with eNotes to access more than 30,000 study guides. Get help with any book.

link Link Summary of the Play The principal five acts of the play are preceded by an Induction. Thus the five acts really compose a play-within-a-play, a Shakespearean device. In the Induction, a nobleman out for a laugh puts a drunken tinker and vagrant, Christopher Sly, into bed. He awakens to find a woman calling herself his wife. The wife, who is really the lord’s page dressed as a woman, claims that Sly is a lord. Sly wants his wife to join him in his bed, but she puts him off by asking him to watch a play performed by a newly arrived theater company. In the central play itself, Lucentio, a young man from Pisa, arrives in Padua to attend its famous university. He quickly becomes enamored of the fair Bianca, who is also pursued by two other men, Gremio and Hortensio. Bianca’s father, Baptista, will not give away his younger daughter before the elder Katharina—the shrew—is wedded, so Hortensio arranges for his friend the surly Petruchio to woo Katharina.

Meanwhile, Lucentio disguises himself as one “Cambio,” a teacher of Latin, in order to woo Bianca. His servant, Tranio, arrives dressed as his master to bargain with Baptista for Bianca’s hand in marriage. Hortensio also comes to woo Bianca disguised as the musician Litio. Bianca favors the younger of the two, and secretly promises to marry Lucentio. Petruchio makes his suit to Katharina, who vehemently rejects him. Petruchio uses clever repartee to trick Kate into agreeing to marry him. When Petruchio returns to Padua a few days later to wed Kate, he appears slovenly and vulgar. After running out on his own wedding banquet, Petruchio takes Kate to his home in nearby Verona. He subjects her to humiliation by not allowing her to eat, sleep, or wear proper clothing for her visit back home. Gradually, Kate submits to this form of “taming.” She swears that the sun shines even though it is night, just to please her new husband. Meanwhile, to secure his marriage with Bianca, Lucentio disguises a pedant as his father.

But Vincentio, Lucentio’s real father, interrupts the proceedings. After some dispute, father and son are reconciled, and Vincentio consents to the marriage. Petruchio and Kate return to Padua to attend the wedding banquet of Lucentio and Bianca. Hortensio and his new wife, the widow, are also present. In order to show how masterfully he has tamed his shrew, Petruchio sets up a wager among the grooms to find out whose bride will obey most readily. Each man must call on his wife to attend him. When summoned, the widow and Bianca both spurn their masters. Kate immediately appears and also brings out the other two wives. Kate then proceeds to harangue the two stubborn women for neglecting their masters. All of the venom that Kate had once used upon her suitors is now turned against the widow and Bianca. All concede that Petruchio has successfully tamed his shrew. Estimated Reading Time Readers will be happy to find that The Taming of the Shrew is one of Shakespeare’s most enjoyable and easy-to-read plays. Allow anywhere from three to four hours to read through this comedy.

Readers may want to slow down for the details of character switching and disguises. Selecting an edition with good footnotes to the text is always a good policy. Possible choices are the Riverside and Bevington editions or those published by the Oxford, Cambridge and Methuen (Arden Shakespeare) presses. Readers will note that some lines are in Latin. Although most of these lines have no direct bearing on the play, some students might wish to understand why Shakespeare chose to quote the Latin author Ovid. There are also many references to mythological persons in The Taming of the Shrew, as in most Shakespearean plays. Again, a footnoted text will help the reader ponder what Shakespeare intends by comparing characters to certain legendary heroes or victims. Students may also want to view the most recent American film version of The Taming of the Shrew, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Beware, however, that all available film versions leave out the Induction. link Link As a joke, a beggar is carried, while asleep, to the house of a noble lord and there dressed in fine clothes and waited on by many servants.

The beggar is told that he is a rich man who, in a demented state, has imagined himself to be a beggar, but who is now restored to his senses. The lord and his court have great sport with the poor fellow, to the extent of dressing a page to pose as the beggar’s rich and beautiful wife and presenting the supposed woman to him as his dutiful and obedient spouse. The beggar, in his stupidity, assumes his new role as though it were his own, and he and his lady settle down to watch a play prepared for their enjoyment. Lucentio, a young man, and Tranio, his servant, have journeyed to Padua so that Lucentio can study in that ancient city. Tranio persuades his master that life is not all study and work and that he should find pleasures also in his new residence. On their arrival in the city, Lucentio and Tranio encounter Baptista and his daughters, Katharina and Bianca. These three are accompanied by Gremio and Hortensio, young gentlemen both in love with gentle Bianca. Baptista, however, will not permit his younger daughter to marry until someone takes Katharina off his hands.

Although Katharina is wealthy and beautiful, she is such a shrew that no suitor will have her. Baptista, not knowing how to control his sharp-tongued daughter, announces that Gremio or Hortensio must find a husband for Katharina before either can woo Bianca. He charges them also to find tutors for the two girls, that they might be skilled in music and poetry. Unobserved, Lucentio and Tranio witness this scene. At first sight, Lucentio also falls in love with Bianca, and he determines to have her for himself. His first act is to exchange clothes with Tranio, so that the servant appears to be the master. Lucentio then disguises himself as a tutor in order to woo Bianca without her father’s knowledge. About the same time, Petruchio arrives in Padua. He is a rich and noble man of Verona, come to Padua to visit his friend Hortensio and to find for himself a rich wife. Hortensio tells Petruchio of his love for Bianca and of her father’s decree that she cannot marry until a husband is found for Katharina.

Petruchio declares that the stories told about spirited Katharina are to his liking, particularly the account of her great wealth, and he expresses a desire to meet her. Hortensio proposes that Petruchio seek Katharina’s father and present his family’s name and history. Hortensio, meanwhile, plans to disguise himself as a tutor and thus plead his own cause with Bianca. The situation grows confused. Lucentio is disguised as a tutor, and his servant, Tranio, is dressed as Lucentio. Hortensio is also disguised as a tutor. Petruchio is to ask for Katharina’s hand. Also, unknown to anyone but Katharina and Bianca, Bianca loves neither Gremio nor Hortensio and swears that she will never marry rather than accept one or the other as her husband. Petruchio easily secures Baptista’s permission to marry his daughter Katharina, for the poor man is only too glad to have his older daughter finally wed. The courtship of Petruchio and Katharina is a strange one indeed, a battle of wits, words, and wills.

Petruchio is determined to bend Katharina to his will, but Katharina scorns and berates him with a vicious tongue. Nevertheless, she has to obey her father’s wish and marry Petruchio, and the nuptial day is set. Then Gremio and Tranio, the latter still believed to be Lucentio, vie with each other for Baptista’s permission to marry Bianca. Tranio wins because he claims more gold and vaster lands than Gremio can declare. In the meantime, Hortensio and Lucentio, both disguised as tutors, woo Bianca. As part of the process by which he seeks to tame Katharina, Petruchio arrives late for his wedding, and when he does appear he wears old and tattered clothes. Even during the wedding ceremony Petruchio acts like a madman, stamping, swearing, and cuffing the priest. Immediately afterward he drags Katharina away from the wedding feast and takes her to his country home, there to continue his scheme to bend her to his will. He gives her no food and no time for sleep, all the while pretending that nothing he has is good enough for her.

In fact, he all but kills her with kindness. Before he is through, Katharina agrees that the moon is the sun and that an old man is a woman. Bianca falls in love with Lucentio, whom she thinks to be her tutor. In chagrin, Hortensio throws off his disguise, and he and Gremio forswear their love for any woman so fickle. Tranio, still hoping to win Bianca for himself, finds an old pedant to act the part of Vincentio, Lucentio’s father. The false father argues his son’s cause with Baptista until that lover of gold promises his daughter’s hand to Lucentio, as he thinks, but in reality to Tranio. When Lucentio’s true father appears on the scene, he is considered an impostor and is almost put in jail for his deceit. The real Lucentio and Bianca, meanwhile, have been married secretly. Returning from the church with his bride, Lucentio reveals the whole plot to Baptista and the others. At first Baptista is angry about the way in which he has been duped, but Vincentio speaks soothingly to him and soon cools his rage.

Hortensio, in the meantime, has married a rich widow. To celebrate these weddings, Lucentio gives a feast for all the couples and the fathers. Following the feast, after the ladies have retired, the three newly married men enter into a bet: Each wagers one hundred pounds that, of the three new wives, his own wife will most quickly obey his commands. Lucentio sends first for Bianca, but she sends word that she will not come. Then Hortensio sends for his wife, but she too refuses to obey his summons. Petruchio then orders Katharina to appear, and she comes instantly to do his bidding. At his request, she also forces Bianca and Hortensio’s wife to go to their husbands. Baptista is so delighted with his older daughter’s meekness and willing submission that he adds another twenty thousand crowns to her dowry. Katharina tells them all that a wife should live only to serve her husband and that a woman’s heart and tongue ought to be as soft as her body. Petruchio has tamed the shrew forever.

The Taming of the Shrew Characters | Study.com The Taming of the Shrew Characters Watch short & fun videos Start Your Free Trial Today Instructor: Laura Foist Laura has a Masters of Science in Food Science and Human Nutrition and has taught college Science. Add to Add to Add to Want to watch this again later? Log in or sign up to add this lesson to a Custom Course. Custom Courses are courses that you create from Study.com lessons. Use them just like other courses to track progress, access quizzes and exams, and share content. Teachers Organize and share selected lessons with your class. Make planning easier by creating your own custom course. Students Create a new course from any lesson page or your dashboard. From any lesson page: Click "Add to" located below the video player and follow the prompts to name your course and save your lesson. From your dashboard: Click on the "Custom Courses" tab, then click "Create course". Next, go to any lesson page and begin adding lessons. Edit your Custom Course directly from your dashboard. Personalize: Name your Custom Course and add an optional description or learning objective. Organize: Create chapters to group lesson within your course. Remove and reorder chapters and lessons at any time.

Share your Custom Course or assign lessons and chapters. Teacher Edition: Share or assign lessons and chapters by clicking the "Teacher" tab on the lesson or chapter page you want to assign. Students' quiz scores and video views will be trackable in your "Teacher" tab. Premium Edition: You can share your Custom Course by copying and pasting the course URL. Only Study.com members will be able to access the entire course. In this lesson we will introduce the characters in ''The Taming of the Shrew''. We will also analyze some of these characters and what these characters mean to the play. Baptista Minola's Household Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew centers around Baptista Minola's household. Baptista is a wealthy man with two daughters. He refuses to let the younger daughter marry before the elder one is married. The elder daughter Katherine has a sharp tongue and is ill-tempered. She is the 'shrew' referred to in the title of the play. She is feared and disliked by all men in the area, and she has even been known to lash out physically against those around her. Katherine knows everyone around her dislikes her; she is fiercely independent but wants to be respected.

The sad thing is that in her time period she must get married to gain this respect. However, she knows that no man will ever want to marry her. She is ultimately 'tamed' through marriage and gains this respect by the end of the play, and her independence is largely lost, which was seen as a good thing at the time. Remember, the values in this play are different than those we have today. The younger daughter, Bianca, is sweet and patient, an ideal Elizabethan-era woman. When her father says she can not marry until Katherine is married, Bianca humbly complies. She takes the time to improve herself through study and practicing instruments. Her mild personality makes her highly desirable, and Bianca has several suitors, while Katherine has none. Everyone expects Bianca to be the perfect wife, and it appears that Baptista favors her. However, once she is married, Bianca seems to become the more selfish and prideful of the two sisters. It leaves us wondering if Bianca was more like Katherine than we originally thought, but was simply hiding her real personality to appear more attractive. Ultimately, we are left wondering how successful Bianca's marriage will be.

When tested, Bianca is actually less willing to obey her husband than Katherine is, making Katherine appear to be a better wife in a time when women had to obey their husbands. Petruchio, Katherine's Husband Since Bianca's suitors have no hope until Katherine is married, they search out someone who would be willing to marry Katherine despite her faults. They find Petruchio, who agrees to woo and marry Katherine for the dowry that he will receive, making it seem that his motivations are purely financial. After Petruchio marries Katherine he begins the process of 'taming' her by being unkind, depriving her of food and sleep. He ends up being able to force Katherine into submission. In the end of the play Katherine is the perfect wife Petruchio is difficult to analyze because his motivations are never made perfectly clear. He could truly love Katherine and know that the only way to have a happy marriage in is to suppress her independence. Under this interpretation of the play, Katherine's shrewish tendencies can be seen as the antagonist, and the play on the whole is a humorous exploration of marriage psychology.

On the other hand, Petruchio could be interpreted to be a greedy, uncaring man who simply loves the act of domination. Under this interpretation, Petruchio is the antagonist and the play is a dark view of marriage and women's place in society. Bianca's Suitors Bianca has three suitors: Lucentio, Hortensio and Gremio. Unlike Petruchio, Lucentio is idyllic and poetic when it comes to love. He carefully woos Bianca and ends up winning her heart. Lucentio also has several servants and family members who play a minor role in the play. His servant, Tranio, impersonates his master during an elaborate ruse for Lucentio to earn Bianca's love. ×

Question: In which Shakespeare play do the characters 'Hortensia', 'Bianca',and 'Baptista' appear?
Answer: 'TAMING OF THE SHREW'